To wonder if rearmost seats in 7 seaters are safe?

[Deaver]

I have a 7 seater MPV (Mazda 5) which has a good ncap safety rating.

I am hesitant to use the third row of seats on long journeys though.

I read that the rear seats are not tested for impact damage, whereas the front and sides are required to by law.....

[FranHastings]

I have the same worry about our Zafira. That and it bursting into flames. We rarely use the seats as a result, which has led to me wondering what the bloody point of having a Zafira was.

[cathf]

We have an older Ford Galaxy and the back seats are 'proper' car seats so I am guessing safer. We did have a zafira and the back seats in that were completely different.

[FranHastings]

Yes, the car we had before the Zafira had proper, sturdy back seats and they definitely felt safer.

[BarmySmarmy]

I just feel the third row are so close to the door, should there be a high speed motorway shunt.

It is a worry of mine.

[ReallyTired]

We have a Toyota verso and the rear seats are better than the Mazda 5. Bear in mind the Mazda 5 is really a six seater as the middle seat is very narrow. It's a nice car to drive. Surprisingly the ford equivalent which has exactly the same body wad horrible.

Previously we had a Renault grand scenic which had a beautifully designed interior. It's sad that Renault let themselves down with poor reliability. Our old Renault had dodgy electrics.

My sil had Vauxhall touran that she had been pleased with.

[SouperSal]

Statistically the middle of the car is safest, so moving out towards the edges reduces safety. But then the odds of a serious accident aren't very high.

Growing up my dad's car had 3 rows of seats and a full boot. Not sure why there was the move to having seats instead of boot.

One of may cars has pop up seats in the boot. They can't be used for adults or with booster seats and mean you can't fit more than an umbrella in the car with you. I really don't know why they bothered putting them there.

[SideOrderofChip]

i have a renault grand scenic and the back bumper covers a steel bar. I got shunted at 30mph by a van. The only damage to be seen was a dent in the boot door (small one) and a little plastic bit was knocked out of the bumper. Turns out that the steel bumper was dented

So yeah. mine are safe. I use them for short journeys but like soupersal has said, once both are up you can't fit anything else in the boot. i bought my car mainly for the boot size with the added bonus of the extra seats if i need them

[MummyBex1985]

I also have a 7 seater but I avoid using the back seats where possible for fear of a rear end shunt. The space between the back of the car and the back of the final row of seats is so tiny that it terrifies me despite the good safety rating!

[AnnieNoMouse]

I have a Zafira and have the same reservations. There is a video on YouTube - I think it's by the Ch. 5 equivalent of Top Gear - that shows how dangerous the back seat positions are. It's the proximity of the seats to the rear, rather than the type of seats, that is the problem.

[AnnieNoMouse]

Although I suppose they're no more dangerous than the back seats in certain hatchbacks?

[AnnieNoMouse]

Link here to programme

[Deaver]

It's absolute insanity that they aren't required to crash test the rear with children's seating so close the back!

[jellybeans]

I worry about this too and have had many 7 seaters over the years. I only use them when we have to. However the video posted has been criticised because the head restraints weren't used properly and the car was stationary. More likely to be rear ended at slow speeds.

[madwomanacrosstheroad]

We had a zafira briefly (as needed a 7 seater)until I came across this video. The zafira went the following week.
I did a bit of research. Seems Renault are generally the safest cars. There is another youtube video around that shows both a landrover and an espace in an accident and the espace comes out as far safer.
It does seem that the new grand scenic (since 2009) has had a lot of the issues re reliability ironed out. However they are still quite dear.
We opted for an ancient seat alhbra which has proper seats and a boot (crumple zone). The big citroens/peugeot are also meant to be good.

[ReallyTired]

Renault cars have well designed interiors, but let themselves down with the electrics. I need a car that will start on a cold wet winter morning. Our Renault died at about eight years old. It had only done 50,000 miles. The costs of repairing it were not economically viable.

[ThornyBird]

We have 4dc so have to use the 3rd row seats. We have an Espace which wouldn't be my chosen car but had the best 3rd row seats safety when we got it.

[Babyroobs]

I worry about this all the time. We have a Renault Scenic and 4 kids so at least one always needs to go in the back seats. It worries me that there is such a small gap between the back of the seats and the boot.

[emark]

We have a ford grand tourneo connect, fantastic for us with 5 children, has proper seats in row 3 which slide forwards so varies the amount of boot space. The bumper is huge so will absorb most of the impact in a low speed crash.

[toomuchtooold]

i have a renault grand scenic and the back bumper covers a steel bar. I got shunted at 30mph by a van. The only damage to be seen was a dent in the boot door (small one) and a little plastic bit was knocked out of the bumper. Turns out that the steel bumper was dented

Oh, that's good to know! We have a grand scenic too and I'm trying to see if we can set things up so I can give lifts to my friend who has a 3 year old (we have 4 yo twins).
Mind you we wouldn't even have to use the back row if it weren't for the mountains of shite that accumulate between the girls' seats in the middle

[EvangelineP]

We bought the Volvo XC90 for this exact reason. I wasn't happy to use the rear seats of anything else and we do routinely use them.

[madwomanacrosstheroad]

I am under the impression that the newer Renault are better. I have been lucky my small 11 yr old Renault seems so far trouble free but I have been strongly advised against considering an older style scenic. Have in the past had horrendous experiences with the digital dashboard in an espace and with an old savannah.
Our friend works for Renault and kind of looks after our cars and insists the new type scenics are completely different internally, built in a different factory and actually reliable.
If you only need 6 seats, you could try to get your hands on a fiat multiple. Had one years ago and it was great. Really economic, reliable and good to drive. Also it had a decent boot and I could get a full size pram plus shopping into it. Think they stopped making them in 2010 or 11.
Visibility was great as it had so much glass and all the seats were full size.
Unfortunately we then needed 7 seats.
Just thinking doblo is not bad, a bit like a van but full size seats, no boot however.

[WordGetsAround]

I think it depends on the car. There are the 5 seaters with 2 extra in the back, which aren't full size and have limited leg room (C max, Touran etc). Then there are the full size 7 seater cars (Galaxy, Sharan etc). I'd be more comfortable with the latter group, but it's worth remember that all cars pass very stringent safety tests before getting on t market.

[AngelBlue12]

We have a seven seat Landrover Discovery 2. It has an ok space between the boot seats and the back door, the seats are nice not like the board like seats of our old Zafira. Plus because it is so high if you do get rear ended the towbar and bumper really do take the brunt.

[Deaver]

I'm looking into the Volvo XC90. Great looking, very reliable, rear seats seem safer than the Mazda 5. Not great on juice though but I guess that's just part and parcel of having a bigger car.

[Notso]

I worry about this all the time as we are a family of 6.
We don't get much choice of car as DH has a company car, the choice for 7 seater is Peugeot 5008 or Vauxhall Zafira. I can't drive so it's our only car.
It's really hard to get booster seats for the back row. My older children can't fit comfortably in the back row.
I often sit there myself.